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it wouldn't surprise me if nomura thought more about the games development after hearing complaints about FF 13 (i'm totally aware there are seperate teams for each FF 13 game) from their fanbase and decided to delay the release date a bit further. he's worked on many games that i've played and loved, so i'm sure he'll make this a great game when a launch date is given.

it wouldn't surprise me if nomura thought more about the games development after hearing complaints about FF 13 (i'm totally aware there are seperate teams for each FF 13 game) from their fanbase and decided to delay the release date a bit further. he's worked on many games that i've played and loved, so i'm sure he'll make this a great game when a launch date is given.

It's funny because it doesn't take a genius to figure out what can make the Final Fantasy franchise respectable again. Simply give the player some actual input in the game that matters and thus a stake in the characters plight rather than having them basically act as bystanders in an high budget visual novel. This simple concept seems to be eluding Square Enix as of late as they seem to strive to make even their flagship franchise as much like visual novel as possible.

I plan on playing it safe with this one and really paying attention to what the reasonable fans say about it. If it becomes clear that it's just another visual novel disguised as an RPG then I want absolutely no part of it. However if it turns out there's actual decent game play involved I'll be all for it.

It's funny because it doesn't take a genius to figure out what can make the Final Fantasy franchise respectable again. Simply give the player some actual input in the game that matters and thus a stake in the characters plight rather than having them basically act as bystanders in an high budget visual novel. This simple concept seems to be eluding Square Enix as of late as they seem to strive to make even their flagship franchise as much like visual novel as possible.

I plan on playing it safe with this one and really paying attention to what the reasonable fans say about it. If it becomes clear that it's just another visual novel disguised as an RPG then I want absolutely no part of it. However if it turns out there's actual decent game play involved I'll be all for it.

Why exactly are you playing RPGs and going after something more than a visual novel? Last I checked, the point of playing an RPG was to immerse yourself in a world. And honestly, to me, the whole "move three steps, screen goes swirly, confront monster, battle it with menu choices" ruins the immersion. I mean a particularly egregious example was in FFX when in a cutscene, Bevelle guards had guns to Tidus's chin, and the next thing you know, you're fighting them in a usual random battle, get shot by one of those hand cannons, and get up like nothing happened.

Why exactly are you playing RPGs and going after something more than a visual novel? Last I checked, the point of playing an RPG was to immerse yourself in a world. And honestly, to me, the whole "move three steps, screen goes swirly, confront monster, battle it with menu choices" ruins the immersion. I mean a particularly egregious example was in FFX when in a cutscene, Bevelle guards had guns to Tidus's chin, and the next thing you know, you're fighting them in a usual random battle, get shot by one of those hand cannons, and get up like nothing happened.

Immersing myself in a world doesn't equate to having zero input on how anything plays out. And this is coming from somebody who tried every way possible to enjoy FFXIII and still came up short. There's sadly nothing in that game that isn't pre-scripted. The plot progression is layed out (and I know this is cliche by this point) in a linear fashion where the only way to move is forward on the map, but not only that, there's only one way to win each boss battle via paradigm shift so you're not exactly doing much other than doing what the game has prescribed for you. Having no chance to design any sort of strategy really puts a damper on what I've come to know of RPG's from Square Enix.

However the absolute kicker which totally caught me off guard when I found out about it and immediately had me going, "Oh boy this is the death sign", is that the Crystogen system, the system that the team behind FFXIII came up with to govern stat growth, is also pre-scripted. All my dreams of getting an updated Sphere Grid system were shattered when I realized that the Crystogen system is also laid out as a straight line and that your growth rates are capped by the chapter such that any replay you might do your growth rates are going to turn out exactly the same each and every time. There's no room for experimentation with it because it doesn't allow for it by it's very nature. This to me was unforgivable and what ultimately brought the game down for me. Honestly I'd never have believed Square Enix could come up with such a borked character growth system, but there it is and it's easily the worst character growth system I have ever seen in an RPG.

Immersing myself in a world doesn't equate to having zero input on how anything plays out. And this is coming from somebody who tried every way possible to enjoy FFXIII and still came up short. There's sadly nothing in that game that isn't pre-scripted. The plot progression is layed out (and I know this is cliche by this point) in a linear fashion where the only way to move is forward on the map, but not only that, there's only one way to win each boss battle via paradigm shift so you're not exactly doing much other than doing what the game has prescribed for you. Having no chance to design any sort of strategy really puts a damper on what I've come to know of RPG's from Square Enix.

However the absolute kicker which totally caught me off guard when I found out about it and immediately had me going, "Oh boy this is the death sign", is that the Crystogen system, the system that the team behind FFXIII came up with to govern stat growth, is also pre-scripted. All my dreams of getting an updated Sphere Grid system were shattered when I realized that the Crystogen system is also laid out as a straight line and that your growth rates are capped by the chapter such that any replay you might do your growth rates are going to turn out exactly the same each and every time. There's no room for experimentation with it because it doesn't allow for it by it's very nature. This to me was unforgivable and what ultimately brought the game down for me. Honestly I'd never have believed Square Enix could come up with such a borked character growth system, but there it is and it's easily the worst character growth system I have ever seen in an RPG.

You're remembering FFX with rose-colored glasses. The sphere grid was very linear in that you just kept moving forward and forward and forward until you got a zillion sphere grid level 1-4 unlocks and teleport spheres that allowed you to go nuts and do things like have Yuna doublecast ultima for 1 mana because of her celestial weapon.

Heck, before that, on the SNES, and even later in FFVII, it was "you leveled up, you got some stats, huzzah".

This whole idea of character building/customization/yadda yadda yadda is just something that never really caught on with me. I always saw an RPG as a story to play through, and whether or not you were able to customize your characters or they just progressed in a pre-scripted fashion didn't really matter to me so long as I could get through the game.

I mean if my party consists of some beefcake, his supermodel Ms. Fanservice girlfriend with a slight talent in magic, a bespectacled meganekko, some indigenous cute little fuzzy plucky relief character, and so on, I don't want to have to think whether I want to make my beefcake an elemental soldier or really strong big-sword swinging bruiser, to make his Ms. Fanservice girlfriend into a white, blue, black, red, green, or purple with orange polka dots mage (or to try to have her boobs of steel self become a fighter), for the meganekko to specialize in healing or assault tech, and for my plucky comic relief character to do one of a zillion different things.

Just advance the characters for me as to how the game should be progressing, and no need to get fancy to the point that "oh hey you should make character X into Y, character A into B, character K into L, etc..." guides. Because no matter how you customize your characters, the story doesn't change.

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You're remembering FFX with rose-colored glasses. The sphere grid was very linear in that you just kept moving forward and forward and forward until you got a zillion sphere grid level 1-4 unlocks and teleport spheres that allowed you to go nuts and do things like have Yuna doublecast ultima for 1 mana because of her celestial weapon.

Heck, before that, on the SNES, and even later in FFVII, it was "you leveled up, you got some stats, huzzah".

This whole idea of character building/customization/yadda yadda yadda is just something that never really caught on with me. I always saw an RPG as a story to play through, and whether or not you were able to customize your characters or they just progressed in a pre-scripted fashion didn't really matter to me so long as I could get through the game.

I mean if my party consists of some beefcake, his supermodel Ms. Fanservice girlfriend with a slight talent in magic, a bespectacled meganekko, some indigenous cute little fuzzy plucky relief character, and so on, I don't want to have to think whether I want to make my beefcake an elemental soldier or really strong big-sword swinging bruiser, to make his Ms. Fanservice girlfriend into a white, blue, black, red, green, or purple with orange polka dots mage (or to try to have her boobs of steel self become a fighter), for the meganekko to specialize in healing or assault tech, and for my plucky comic relief character to do one of a zillion different things.

Just advance the characters for me as to how the game should be progressing, and no need to get fancy to the point that "oh hey you should make character X into Y, character A into B, character K into L, etc..." guides. Because no matter how you customize your characters, the story doesn't change.

See I believe that RPG's can be more than just a visual novel and you don't. Hell I've seen RPG's be more than a visual novel.

If you wish to keep criticizing me for this position then I suggest you tackle why everything but the story in an RPG video game, should be irrelevant. Once you've talked about that I think you'll have a better case. Also try to stay on point if you plan to do so instead of trailing off into hyperbole.

For now I'll say that at least the Sphere Grid wasn't capped by stretches of gameplay. That's really the main reason I was so immensely disappointed in the Crystogen system because frankly it's self-defeating. Whoever heard of capping an experience growth system so that it always turns out exactly the same at any given stretch of the game? Why even have one if you're going to do that?

Again this is coming from someone who literally made every effort possible to enjoy FFXIII for what it was, but there are limits to how canned an experience I am willing to play around with.

Liked the dialogue between Stella and Noctis, seen in other trailers that they gotta battle, so curious to see how this male/female relationship develops compared to the other previous FF couples.

This won't be the first time an FF couple have battled each other; VIII also had the couple battling at a point (okay, so Rinoa was being controlled by Adel and you really didn't battle her... )

and just to toss my two cents about an RPG versus a visual novel... the difference lies in what I consider to be the most defining point of the RPG genre: the leveling up. With VNs, there's only button clicking. Also, VNs tend to have multiple routes; RPGs are either Game Over or eventually beat the game, or in some newer games, Good End or Bad End (okay, so the last two are present in VNs as well). But putting hours upon hours of time into leveling your party up to take on upcoming foes and eventually the Final Boss, plus dictating every party member's actions (whether indirectly or directly) is what I consider to be the defining point of an RPG. I have to agree with Demongod86 about the classes... in fact, as I'm working through XII, that is what drives me crazy with the license board. I'm far too used to one character being your swordsman/woman, another being your white mage/healer, you have a gunslinger, etc.